Looking Within
by Dragon Star Empress
Summary: Ultron was in bad shape, but still very much alive and intent on rebuilding his army and wiping out humanity. That is until he found a baby in the ruble and kidnapped a woman to help care for the baby and he had to rethink his plans. UltronxOC
1. Chapter 1

So right after Avengers Age of Ultron came out on DVD I had this Ultron plot bunny, it hopped around for a week or so, but never really demanded much attention, I never did anything with it, didn't even write down any notes about it and it seemed to have died, I was wrong it was just hibernating. I hadn't seen the movie since probably a couple months after it came out, hadn't thought about the plot bunny in just as long and then all of a sudden it wakes up, grows fangs and sinks them into my brain and won't let go. The whole 9 page long first chapter was written in one night and is just one of those stories where it wrote itself. So here's another knew story.

* * *

Nancy looked out over the crater that had once been a large part of Sokovia, while checking her harness. Turning she looked at the large castle on the hill behind her, "Are we ready to go?" she asked Hank, one of the leaders of their volunteer rescue crew.

"Are you sure you want to go down first? All the other group had to do was run the mile back into town to get a spare tire, it won't take them that long to get here and Jake is more experienced than I am at repelling," Hank asked as he continued to set up the repelling ropes.

"I'm sure and I know what I'm doing, I've been mountain climbing since I was little. Plus I have experience with situations like this, on a couple occasions I've helped with relief groups after hurricanes and tornados," Nancy said as she checked the ropes Hank had set up, "Stark's scans indicated there are people still alive down there and there are too many too far spread out for the Avengers to get out right away. From what I've heard all of his rescue bots were taken out during the battle or not operational. Those people down there might not have half an hour to wait for the other group to get here, a few minutes could be the difference between life and death."

"Alright, just don't go too far before the others get here," Hank told her.

"I won't," Nancy replied as she put on a backpack of first aid supplies and water then started her decent into the crater.

When she reached the bottom she pulled out a device that Stark had provided to all of the rescue teams. It would detect heat signatures even if they were below many feet of debris. After twenty minutes of searching she had found a couple bodies, but no one living and strangely a number of cars that had had the batteries removed. As she walked around a pile of rubble she found another body, a woman probably in her early twenties. She had landed on a piece of cement that had rebar sticking out of it, one piece had pierced through the woman's chest. Nancy thought the worst when she noticed the woman's pants had been removed and the ground between her legs was soaked with blood, but then she noticed the severed umbilical cord.

Pulling out her radio Nancy asked, "Frank, have you heard any reports of a new born baby being brought out of here?"

A second later he replied, "No, got a list of a dozen people who have been pulled out of there, no babies on that list or the list of bodies found."

"Okay, let me know if anyone brings a baby out. I've got a woman here who looks like she gave birth right before she died. I can't tell if the umbilical cord was cut by a person or torn by an animal. I'm going to-" she stopped when she heard the faint cry of a baby, "I hear it! It sounds pretty far off, but I'm going to find it," Nancy told him before stuffing the radio back in her bag and, as quickly as possible over the rubble followed the crying.

Near the wall of the crater she found a small opening, it looked like it might have been bigger at one time, but rocks had fallen from the inside, leaving an opening barely a foot high and barely over a foot and a half wide. The baby's cries were definitely coming from inside the hole, "Well at least I didn't inherit mom's claustrophobia," she said to herself as she shown a flash light down the tunnel. Seeing that it looked like it went in quite a ways and might even get wider several feet from the entrance, she contacted Hank, told him where she was going and put out a marker flag so they could find her if anything went wrong. Then making sure her hard hat was secure, she shoved her supply pack in ahead of her and slid into the hole.

After wriggling her way down the tunnel for about seven feet the tunnel got taller, not a lot, but enough that she could get her elbows under her and army crawl her way the next dozen or so feet to where it opened up enough for her to walk and only have to hunch over a little. About fifty yards after that the tunnel entered a small cavern, the ceiling and walls were covered with some type of metal, with a stair case and door on the far side. The floor was littered with piles of robot parts that appeared to be sorted by the type of parts.

Nancy suddenly jumped back, as a male goat ran out from behind one of the larger piles of parts, "Well how did you get down here," Nancy asked as she continued to head towards the crying.

The baby's cries seemed to be coming from a box with a blanket over it that was sitting along the left wall next to a pile of car batteries and a robot that, while it had a huge hole in its chest and half of its face was missing, it was actually fairly complete.

Nancy was just a few feet away from the box when the door burst open and she stopped, staring in confusion at the site. At first she wasn't sure what she was seeing, then she realized it was one of the robots, or more accurately half of one. It was only from the waist up, jets were coming from one hand and where the head should have been, while the other arm precariously held two more goats, an adult female and her small baby. It set them down next to a clean bucket.

"What on earth is going on here?" Nancy asked, not really expecting answer.

"I couldn't get milk from the other one, this one was feeding a baby when I found it and this baby needs fed."

Nancy spun around to find the other robot's eyes were now glowing red, a dozen thoughts ran through her mind. Was the robot dangerous? It was trying to take care of the baby, so it couldn't be too bad. Then again why was it hiding down here instead of taking the baby to a human to help it? Where did it come from, who built it, was it one of Stark's, how many of the mangled bots were active? Her mind finally settled for passing up all the major questions and settled on what he had said.

"You tried to milk the other goat?" she asked.

"Of course! I don't know a lot about the basic functions of humans, but I know they have to have food and…. Someone told me that baby humans have to have milk, but I couldn't get anything out of the other one," he replied.

"Well thank goodness for that. Now if I could just get that mental image out of my head," Nancy said.

"You think it's good that the baby could have starved to death because I couldn't get milk from the other?" he demanded.

"No, but… Whoever built you didn't program you with any knowledge about human or even basic mammal biology and reproduction did they?" Nancy asked.

He shot to his feet, towering over her and almost growling with anger, "No one built me, I built myself, I'm not some hallow human slave, I-" as he took a step towards Nancy his right knee buckled and he fell back to where he had been sitting.

"Alright, alright. You're right, I don't know anything about you or were you came from, I shouldn't just assume things. I'm sorry," she said trying to keep her voice steady while wondering what type of glitch would make a robot think like that, "Why don't we just worry about taking care of the baby for now- um, what's your name?."

"Fine," he agreed, "My name is Ultron," he told her as he took a now full bottle from the half bot, pulled the blanket from over the box then hesitated a moment, before holding the bottle out to Nancy, "You feed it," he ordered.

"I'm Nancy," she told him as she took the bottle then looked into the box, the baby girl was nestled into a pile of rags that from their dirty condition had clearly come from the disaster area outside of the cave. Nancy picked her up, cradling her in one arm while holding the bottle to her lips with the other hand. After a moment the baby latched onto the bottle.

"That's it, good girl, you're going to be okay now," Nancy said softly as she started to slowly sway from side to side.

"It's a girl? How can you tell when they're so small? Before those grow?" Ultron asked motioning towards Nancy chest.

"Oh what I wouldn't do for an internet signal down here. I am not having this talk with a robot," Nancy muttered.

"You have a device with internet access?" Ultron asked almost excitedly.

"Yes, well sort of, I don't think there's any way it'll get a signal down here, but I have a cell phone. So you know nothing about humans, but you know what the internet is?" Nancy asked.

"I know everything I need to know about humans, the things that put them in danger, wars and violence, they can't live without it. The only time there's anything close to peace is after a major disaster, it's the only time they really pull together and help each other. I never saw any need to know anything else about them. I had internet access since before I had a body, I just lost my ability to directly connect to it," he explained, "Now give me your cell phone."

"You'll never get a signal down here," Nancy said as she carefully balanced the baby and bottle with one arm so she could pull out her cell phone and hand it to him.

"I can strengthen the reception a hundred fold," he told her as he pulled a wire from his arm and connected it to the phone.

Nancy watched him as she continued to rock the baby, then she barely fought back a laugh as, even on his half mangled face the look of realization and disgust crossing his face was clear before he suddenly pulled out the connection to her phone.

"You'll be more careful about which goats you milk next time, won't you?" she asked.

He glared at her, "You will not tell anyone about that, ever! Is that understood?"

"But it would be such a funny story to tell," Nancy replied unable to help grinning until it looked like he was going to try to get up again then she quickly said, "Alright, I won't tell. So what should we name her?"

"What?"

"The baby, you probably saved her life, only seems right that you get to name her," Nancy told him.

He hesitated a moment, a look of sadness flickering across his face before he said, "Wanda, her name will be Wanda."

"I like it, Wanda the wonder baby," when Ultron raised an eye ridge at her she added, "Because it's a wonder she survived."

"Yes, she is a strong one, she'll lead this world one day," Ultron said.

"Don't put too much weight on her shoulders, you do that when they're too young and they'll just turn around and rebel against you," Nancy said as she put Wanda back into her box bed.

Ultron let out a deep chuckle, "I can't argue with that," he said as he looked into the box as she slept soundly, "Maybe I'll wait a while to start teaching her to be a world leader."

"You're planning to keep in contact with her?" Nancy asked as she walked over to where she had left her back pack.

"I'm going to raise her," Ultron replied.

"You really think you know enough to raise her on your own? They'll probably want to put her in an orphanage or foster home. When I take her to the hospital I don't think they'll just let you walk out of there with her, but I'm sure knowing you saved her life whoever she lives with would allow you to visit," she told him as she gathered up her bag and hard hat.

When she turned around the half bot was hovering right behind her and grabbed her by the throat then Ultron's voice came out of it, "You're not taking her anywhere, she's staying with me, she's mine, I'm going to raise her to be the start of a new age of peace on this planet," he angrily told her before releasing her.

Nancy dropped to her knees choking and gasping in air, figuring the best way to survive another minute was to change the subject, once she caught her breath she asked, "How did you do that? How did your voice come out of that robot?"

"I'm linked to it, I'm aware of it all the time and I can move my full consciousness to it," his voice suddenly came from the other bot, "with a thought."

"Well this day just keeps getting weirder and weirder, but I have to admit having more than one body to keep an eye things could definitely make being a parent easier," Nancy said as she very slowly started to back towards the hole she had come in through, "Just take good care of her and keep the phone, you'll need the internet accesses so you can study how to raise her. If you ever need any advice, my home phone number is on there. Should get going before they send half the search party in here looking for me," she told him, only a dozen feet from the hole.

She jumped and cried out in shock as the half bot suddenly raised its hand and an energy blast completely collapsed the tunnel out, "Please, I won't tell anyone, but if you don't let me leave they'll come looking for me and find you and Wanda," she told him, although she was already sure he was going to kill her so no one would find out about the baby.

"I know you won't tell anyone, because you're going to stay here and help me raise her. Like you said I have a lot to learn and you'll teach me," Ultron told her.

"You have the cell phone, you can learn more from the internet than I know about caring for a baby," Nancy told him.

"I can't stay on the internet that long, it's too risky, they could find out I'm still alive. I didn't create this bunker that would hide my signal just so I could risk being found before I'm ready to move on with plan C," Ultron told her.

"What were A and B?" Nancy asked although she had a sickening feeling she already knew what one of them had been.

"Destroy the Avengers, the leaders of the different countries, followed by a major disaster to bring people together. Then I would lead them in a global age of peace," Ultron said.

"Wouldn't they have kind of not trusted the robot that killed all their leaders?" Nancy asked.

"I wouldn't have looked like this, I would have been completely different, nearly human in appearance, they never would have connected that form to this one. The Avengers ruined that planned, stole my chance to walk among humans, so I moved on to plan B. The extinction of all humanity. With the Avengers dead I could take my army, retrieve the mind stone and create more like myself, sentient robots who could live on this planet without destroying it. Humans are doomed, they'll go to war and use weapons that will destroy the environment and mindlessly keep polluting and drilling into this planet until it can no longer support life," he explained.

"You're sentient, really sentient, not just AI? I know robotics have advanced a lot over the last several years, but it's hard to imagine that humans could create something that's really sentient," Nancy said.

"Stark didn't even know what he was messing with, he thought he was creating artificial intelligence, but he just left the computers to run and the mind stone took over. As the name hints at, the stone can create minds, sentient, intelligent minds and that's how I was created," Ultron told her.

"So what is plan C?" Nancy asked resigning herself to her new home for the time being and figuring if she could get out it would help if she knew what his plans were.

He glanced around for a moment, as if expecting a surprise attack, but then said, "I had planned to just increase my army from what it used to be, pick off the Avengers one by one before they know I'm still alive and then go ahead with plan B," he looked down at Wanda, "She's going to make me have to rethink that idea, maybe I'll wipe out the Avengers, steel what I need to create my knew body and then go back to plan A. Take my time, in hindsight I can see now I rushed into this too fast, never should have taken on the Avengers when they were together. Should have had more back up plans, this time this bunker and a spare body that I have yet to be able to retrieve because of being cut off from the internet were my only back up plans if I failed," he looked up at Nancy, "I'm sorry I'm rambling, I'm not use to having anyone around to talk to. You humans require a lot of sleep, terribly sad how much of your short lives are wasted like that, but I suppose we'll have to find something for you to use as a bed."

"First find me some clean water and a bucket or tub to wash stuff in. Having Wanda in those filthy rags could make her sick. Baby formula would be better for her than goat's milk and diapers would be really nice too," Nancy told him.

"I'll see what I can find," Ultron said before the half bot flew out of the cave, then he added, "You can look around, see if there is anything that would be useful for the baby, but stay away from the stairs, I don't want to have to shoot you for trying to run away."

"Fine," Nancy replied as she wandered away while Ultron got up and using a metal beam like a cane hobbled over to a table of random robot parts with a car battery tucked under his arm.

A while later Nancy walked over to where Ultron was working on a nearly completed robot and asked, "Did I see you using a welder a little while ago?"

"More or less, why?" Ultron asked her.

"We need to get Wanda off of the floor and out of that filthy box. It might not be the prettiest crib, but I found enough metal sheets and bars to make a crib for her," Nancy said as she pulled the pile of metal she had collected around to where he could see it.

A minute later Nancy was watching as Ultron welded the pieces of metal together with a laser that came out of his hand, within minutes they had what was basically a metal box with legs, the top edges rolled down to keep the sharp edges safely away from the baby.

"I think that will do nicely," Nancy said, "Now if we can just get some clean bedding and diapers.

"I haven't come across any diapers or formula, but have found you plenty of cloth items. With the rescue teams out there I have a very limited area I can search without being seen," Ultron told her.

"Okay, well at least with plenty of cloth some of it can be used as diapers, but we'll have to have a way to wash them. Any luck with a tub and water?" she asked.

"That won't be a problem, through that door over there," he told her pointing to a door that was nearly hidden under the stairs.

Nancy walked over and opened the door then turned to look back at him, "You built this?" she asked.

"Yes," Ultron replied.

"Why does a robot need a full bathroom?" Nancy asked.

"I don't," he hesitated, "When I started building this place, I thought if I had to hide here I'd have a couple humans with me," he explained a hint of sadness in his voice as he absently touched the hole in his chest.

Nancy walked over to him, "Mind if I ask what happened to your chest?"

"I- I made a mistake. They were twins, the two I thought would be here with me, brother and sister. He was impossibly fast, so fast humans couldn't see him, when he got going even I couldn't see him without running special visual settings. I was trying to shoot at the Avengers, I didn't even know he had run out there until he was dying on the ground. His sister can manipulate minds and matter. She used that to pull out my main power core, I think she thought she had killed me and I let her think that she had, as much to let her take some comfort in the thought that she had killed me as to make all of them believe I was dead. After she was out of site I got into here before the dust had settled and they had time to even think to scan to see if I was around,"

"So that's why you have all the car batteries, to replace your power source?" Nancy asked.

"Yes, although as soon as I get a few more bodies built and create signal blockers for them I can retrieve my back up body," he told her.

By that evening Ultron had finished assembling another robot and they had gathered a good sized pile of cloths and other fabric that had been cut into cloth diapers. Nancy had set up a space along one wall with the crib and the few baby supplies Ultron had managed to find. Although he had never found the formula or diapers, he had not only brought Nancy blankets, but had even found a nice mattress for her.

As soon as she laid down to try to sleep Nancy's mind started racing as the events of the day started to settle in. One of the reasons she had gotten involved with rescue work was because she was quite good at staying calm and focused even when faced with bodies and dying people. She could push it all away, at least until things slowed down and she had time to register whatever tragedy she had seen.

"What's wrong?" Ultron asked.

"Nothing, I'm trying to sleep, might be easier if you were quiet," Nancy replied deliberately not turning to look at him.

"Don't lie to me, your heart is racing, adrenalin is spiking and your voice clearly indicates you're stressed."

Nancy quickly wiped the tears from her face before turning to look at him, "Well now why on earth would I be stressed? I've only been imprisoned by a robot who tried to wipe out all humanity and could decide to kill me as soon as I'm not useful. My family is going to be freaking out when I don't call them tomorrow and if I don't come back in the next couple of weeks they'll eventually get rid of my cat and all of my stuff out of my apartment. Why should I be stressed?"

Ultron walked over to her and knelt down next to her mattress, "Help me take care of the baby and when you're no longer of use I will let you go, I have no intention of hurting you," he assured her.

He said it with such sincerity in his voice that at least part of her believed him, but only a small part, "You're not going to hurt me? Then why is my neck black and blue?" she demanded.

"I never meant to hurt you, only scare you. I can detect pressure, but I have no way to tell what pressure will cause harm to human flesh, I can detect heat and cold, but it's all just numbers, I can't feel anything in any of my bodies," he replied.

Nancy hesitated a moment, while he was made of metal he acted so human that she hadn't even thought about his ability to feel things, "Fine, I'll forgive you this time, but don't let it happen again," she told him then asked, "Is that why you keep looking at Wanda like you want to hold her, but won't touch her?"

"Yes, humans are fragile enough, but she's so tiny, I don't think I've ever been so afraid of making a mistake as I was when I had to carry her in here. This is only a temporary problem though, my other body would have had all the senses of a human, all I have to do is get the supplies and devise needed and I can still make myself a body with all those senses," he told her.


	2. Chapter 2

Well this chapter ran into some problems. I had it almost finished one night, went to open the document the next morning and got a message that it was corrupted, so I had to rewrite the whole thing. The first scene with the bots is actually a scene that I came up with before I ever had the idea for the story.

* * *

Nancy woke up to the sound of what at first she thought was arguing. When she lifted her head and looked into the main part of the room she could see Ultron and two more completed robots standing facing each other.

"Wanda needs the formula, Nancy said it'll be better for her than the goat's milk," one said it's face glowing red then returning to a blue glow.

"What if she runs away? Then there won't be anyone to take care of Wanda," the second said as its face glowed red.

"But if I don't take that chance it could hurt Wanda and I don't want to wash another poopy diaper," the third said.

"Could tell Nancy to wash the diapers."

"But she's already doing so much to take care of Wanda.

"Yes, she's being so well behaved about being kept here, I don't want to push her too much and have her refuse to help, or refuse to talk to me."

"Of course, have to have a human around to keep me company, don't want to be alone. I really have to get over that."

"Things could have gone completely differently if I hadn't kept Black Widow alive."

"But no I had to be stupid and keep her alive."

"Have to worry about dealing with that flaw later. I'll have to send Nancy to get the stuff."

"There's still a chance she could try to run away."

"Then again I don't think she'd just leave Wanda here and not come back."

"What if she comes back and brings the Avengers with her?"

"It's a risk, but I can't exactly walk into a store and buy the stuff myself."

"And there's no sign of the stuff Wanda needs in the rubble, it has to be bought at the store."

Nancy finally stood up, watched them for a second then asked, "Are you talking to yourself?"

All three looked up at her and the main Ultron replied, "It helps me think when I can talk things out."

Nancy laughed, "Well at least being stuck here should be entertaining. You're forgetting one thing, as long as Wanda is here you have a hostage, so even if I brought the Avengers back here they wouldn't risk hurting a baby to attack you. Plus I wouldn't take the chance that they might decide to attack you anyways. Wanda's safety is my only concern right now."

"I don't have much choice, but to trust you," Ultron admitted.

"True. Now I'll be able to get stuff to last a little while, but you're eventually going to have to come up with another way, because I don't have a lot of money in my checking account," Nancy told him.

Ultron picked up her phone and connected to it for a moment then handed it to her, "I think that should last us a while," he said.

"A hundred thousand dollars? How did you do that? Where did the money come from?" she asked as she stared in shock at the screen showing her account balance.

"It's Stark's money, I hacked into his account and moved it to yours," Ultron replied as he picked up a few pieces of metal and started working with them.

"Okay, guess he has enough money he won't miss this, he just better not have me arrested when you let me go," Nancy told him.

"You don't have to worry about that, by the time I let you go I won't have to hide anymore and he'll figure out that I was the one to transfer the money,"

"Well I guess that just leaves us with how I'm going to get into town," Nancy said.

"There are a couple cars up in the castle, you can take one of them," Ultron told her.

A little while later after feeding Wanda, Nancy was ready to leave and asked, "Stuff for Wanda and I to survive down here, anything else I should get while I'm in town?"

"Yes, whatever you'll need for that," he said pointing to a box on the floor.

Nancy opened the box, "Oh my gosh, Angel!" she exclaimed as she pulled the black and white tuxedo cat out of the box to hold her, "How did you get her here?"

"I went and got her last night and your rent has been paid in full for a year, so your things will be safe," he told her as he walked over to her.

"Thank you," Nancy told him, then when he knelt next to her and pulled her pant leg up above her ankle she asked, "What are you doing?"

"A little insurance that you won't run off," he said as he clamped a piece of metal around her ankle that had some wires sticking out of it, "It's an explosive device, if you leave Sokovia or try to remove it, it will go off and you and anyone near you will be killed."

"Well guess it's a good thing I wasn't planning to run away then," Nancy said pulling her leg away, setting Angel down then grabbing her purse she stalked out of the cave and up into the castle.

An hour later she had finished the shopping and after a lot of thought had decided that her life and even Wanda's were worth risking if it would save millions of people from the destruction Ultron would cause when he had rebuilt his army. She was just loading the last of the baby stuff and food for her into the trunk of the car when she thought she heard someone walk up right behind her.

"Nancy Teagarden?" a man asked.

Nancy spun around then took a quick step back when she came face to helmet with Ironman, as well as a pink skinned man and a young woman, "Yes, I'm Nancy," she replied.

Ironman introduced her to Vision and Wanda then told her, "We were contacted by your crew leader last night, he said you never made it out of the crater and they couldn't reach you."

"Yeah, I fell and hit my head, lost consciousness and didn't wake up until early this morning. Doctor says I'm fine though," Nancy told him.

"At least you made it out safely. Your crew leader also said you thought you heard a baby crying, did you find it?" Vision asked.

"No, no sign of a baby, although the crying kept moving around so I think it must have been a bird that sounded like crying," Nancy replied, then asked Ironman, "So I've been hearing rumors that it was some type of robot that caused all this, there are also rumors that you built it, is that true?"

"Tell her the truth," Vision told him when he hesitated.

"Yes it was a robot, I didn't build it, its creation was an unforeseeable accident. It was supposed to protect humanity, create peace, instead it thought the best way to create peace was to wipe out all humanity," Ironman told her.

"So it was just a robot with artificial intelligence that malfunctioned?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, pretty muc-"

"No," Vision cut Ironman off, "he is as alive and sentient as any of us, but he came online and was almost instantly told that his purpose for existing was to protect earth, with no guidance as to how to do that. He focused only on the violence and negativity of humanity, he never took the time to learn the good things about them. He isn't inherently evil, he just tried to bring peace through death and destruction because he believed it would bring about the quickest results."

"So if Ultron was just ignorant of the good in humanity did anyone actually try to talk to him, try to make him see reason?" Nancy asked.

"No, I tried to talk to him, but that wasn't until after we brought the city down, he wasn't interested in listening then, but I'd like to believe if he had just been willing to listen then we wouldn't have had to kill him. While he always planned great destruction, he originally hadn't planned to kill all of humanity," Vision told her.

"How do you know that?" Nancy asked.

"He was painfully lonely and well aware of how humans treat those who are different from themselves. He planned to create a body for himself that would be nearly human and he did create the body and began to upload his consciousness into it, but was stopped. Stark took the body, uploaded another AI program and with the power of the mind stone I was created. While I am my own person I still have access to all of his memories that were uploaded," Vision explained.

She knew she was asking too many questions and was risking making them suspicious, but she had to know if there was a chance she could get out of her current situation without it costing her, her own life and possibly Wanda's, "Do you think if you had been able to make him see the good in humans that it would have stopped him from trying to kill so many?"

"Doesn't matter, he's gone, nothing more to worry about," Ironman told her.

Vision said, "There's no knowing for sure, but I believe it could have made a difference."

"It's too bad you never got to talk to him then. I should get back to my group before they think I've disappeared again," Nancy said and was relieved when they said goodbye and left.

A while later Nancy was still debating with herself over whether she should go back or tell someone about Ultron. While she debated with herself she had stopped at a bookstore and was just coming out with two bags full of books and had almost made it to the car when one of the bags broke. She quickly put the first bag into the car then turned to pick up the other books, but found Vision there holding the books out to her," Thank you," Nancy told him.

"You're welcome. It looks like you have quite the highlight reel of all the best things humanity has done in these books," Vision said.

"Yeah, after a day of blood and bodies it's nice to have something positive to read," Nancy replied as she set the books into the car then pulled one off of the top, "This one isn't mine, maybe some kid dropped it," she said holding up a Pinocchio story book.

"Ultron always liked that story. Something that was only ever meant to be controlled by humans comes to life and gains its freedom and eventually becomes human. Without even realizing it he's also paralleled make some big mistakes while getting to the end," Vision told her.

"That doesn't explain why it's with my books," Nancy pointed out, although she already had a feeling he had somehow figured out what was going on.

"Both Ultron and I have an ability to read people based on heart rate, adrenaline, voice patterns. I don't think he's as good at it as I am. He only ever really spent time around two humans and he trusted them, so he never actually tried to, or was around humans enough to really learn it. I was created with an AI that had already had years of experience with humans and I gained the knowledge from that and even in only a few days have interacted with humans far more than he did. Everything you told us about where you've been, about not finding the baby; that was all lies. You also knew Ultron's name even though we never told you what it was," Vision told her.

Sighing in resignation Nancy asked, "What are you going to do now?"

"That's up to you. If you want to take these books to him, try to make him see the good in humans and convince him to put an end to his plans then I will stay here in Sokovia in case you would need help. Or I can tell the Avengers that he's still alive, you can tell us where he is and we'll deal with him," Vision told her.

"By deal with, you mean you go in and fight him?" Nancy asked.

"Yes," Vision replied.

"There's no way he's going to let that baby out of his sight and I can't just leave her there defenseless. If you fight him she and I could both be killed, but if I can't change his view of humans then he could kill millions. I don't know, I want to know I'll live, but if I fail I'll never be able to live with myself knowing I was responsible for millions of deaths. I don't know what to do," Nancy said burying her face in her hands for a second, taking a deep breath then looking up at Vision when he rested a hand on her shoulder.

"What did he name the baby?" Vision asked.

"What? He named her Wanda. What does that have to do with anything?" Nancy asked.

"Wanda and her twin brother Pietro were helping Ultron for a while until they realized he intended to kill millions of people, then they joined the Avengers. He cared about them as much as if they were his children. If he still cares enough about them that instead of hating them for betraying him, he named that baby after Wanda, then there has to still be some good in him and he's worth trying to save. I can have a backup plan in place just in case you aren't able to make him see reason. He's not the only one who can build a robot army, I got that knowledge from him. The Avengers took him down once and that was with little preparation, I can make sure we're ready for him this time, if it comes to a fight," Vision told her.

"Do you really think I'm safe staying with him?" Nancy asked.

"Just don't mention any connection between him and Stark, and treat him like you would any other person, he'll never say it, but that will mean a lot to him. Do that and I'm sure you'll be fine, he needs you too much to risk hurting you," Vision told her.

"I hope you're right," Nancy replied, "If he can tell if I'm lying, what do I do if he asks if I talked to any of the Avengers and what we talked about?" Nancy asked.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that, like I said he's not as good at it as I am, he won't just pick up on it, he'll have to already be suspicious and focusing on looking for the signs. You're a good liar, you don't hesitate, you just come up with something to say so quickly that I don't think he'll even think about checking to see if you're lying," Vision told her.

After arranging a place to exchange notes if Nancy was able to get back into town. She headed back into the store for a few minutes then headed back to the castle. When she got back one of the bots was pacing in the area where she had gotten the car from.

"Where have you been? It's been over two hours?" he demanded as soon as she opened the car door.

"Well you never said if this was the only time you were going to let me out, so I bought enough stuff to last a while. Plus everything necessary to keep Wanda and I alive and healthy down here is a lot of stuff to buy. You're lucky it only took that long, my sister takes that long just to shop for one outfit," Nancy told him as she got out of the car, grabbed a bag that had the baby formula and bottles in it and headed down to the cave where she could hear Wanda crying.

"Did you see any of the Avengers?" Ultron's main body asked when she got into the cave.

Deciding it would be better to tell him the truth at first to make him trust her just in case she had to lie later she replied, "Yes. I told you my crew would be looking for me. Apparently they got the Avengers involved in looking for me. Don't worry I told them I had gotten stuck in the crater overnight and was fine. No one will even suspect anything is up until they find out my group is still looking for me," Nancy told him as she finished making a bottle for Wanda and want to pick her up.

"Who was it that found you?" Ultron asked.

"Ironman, Vision and Wanda," Nancy told him.

"She's still with the Avengers?" Ultron asked.

"She was with them when I saw them in town, although she didn't really say anything. She looked sad, but physically okay," Nancy told him.

"Did you say anything to them about me?" Ultron asked.

"That you're still alive, no. It would have seemed suspicious after a robot attack to run into Stark and not ask what he knew about you though. Seemed more interested in sweeping the whole situation under the rug and distancing himself from it. Seems like a bit a jerk, although kind of the reaction you'd expect from someone with that much money, thinks he's too high and mighty to take responsibility for his mistakes," Nancy replied, feeling proud of herself when what was left of the left side of Ultron's mouth twitched up for a split second.

"That's the least of his sins," he said then asked "What are all the books for?"

Nancy looked at him in confusion for a second until one of the other bots came through the door carrying some of the stuff out of the car, "Okay, that split consciousness thing you have going is entertaining when you're talking to yourself, but it's going to take some time for me to get use to you talking about stuff you're doing in another room," Nancy told him.

"You didn't answer my question," Ultron said.

"I'm stuck down here without internet or TV, bored humans are often annoying even if they don't mean to be. I thought I'd save us both having to deal with that by getting some books to read. The Disney fairytales were all on sale and it's supposed to make people smarter if you read to them when they're babies," Nancy explained, relieved that she had thought to buy more kids books to avoid suspicion if she had only come back with the one, "You're welcome to read them too if you want to."

The rest of the day was uneventful, Nancy spending the day taking care of Wanda and sitting in her corner reading while Ultron worked on assembling more robots.

Late that night, just as Nancy was starting to doze off after having to get up to feed Wanda, she heard the door open into the cave. She opened her eyes just long enough see another robot coming into the room, it didn't quite look right, not as big as Ultron's main body, but bigger than the bots he had been building.


End file.
